Apple’s long overdue new Macs ‘to launch on October 27

Rhiannon Williams

Published:08:26Saturday 22 October 2016

Apple is planning to debut its long-awaited new Mac updates at an event on October 27, according to reports.

The Californian company is expected to reveal a new thinner MacBook Pro and MacBook Air, having concentrated on relaunching the MacBook range and making incremental changes to the iMac line in recent years.

Like the 2015 and 2016 MacBook updates, the model is highly likely to feature a USB-C port instead of Apple’s traditional MagSafe connector.

Other rumoured new features include the slimmer keyboards also used in the MacBooks, and a digital function key display codenamed the Dynamic Function Row, for enabling common tasks to be performed more quickly.

Chief executive Tim Cook is likely to introduce the event, which will be held at the company’s Cupertino headquarters rather than its usual San Francisco conference centres, according to Recode.

macOS Sierra, the latest operating system for Mac, has been available to download for free since last month.

Any new models announced next week will be the first to ship with the new version.

While computers were the only products Apple manufactured for many years, the iPhone now accounts for around two-thirds of its revenue.

It sold 4.3m Macs in the three months to July, a year-on-year fall from 4.8m in the same period during 2015, generating $5.2bn (£4.23bn) in revenue.